Poll shows Americans support renewable fuels

Americans of all stripes agree: We want greater use of renewable fuels like ethanol. According to a new national poll released by the Renewable Fuels Now Coalition, 74 percent of Americans believe we should increase our use of domestically produced renewable fuels like ethanol.

In addition, 87 percent of Americans maintain the federal government should actively support the development of a renewable fuels industry in this country, and 77 percent think Congress should encourage oil refiners to blend more ethanol into their gasoline products.

“By overwhelming margins, Americans want renewable fuels like ethanol to play a larger role in our nation’s energy future,” said Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dinneen, a member of the Renewable Fuels Now Coalition. “The consequences of continuing our dependence on foreign oil are unacceptable. Renewable fuels like ethanol offer our nation an opportunity to go in a new, more sustainable energy direction.”

Dinneen continued, “These numbers make it clear that the American public understands the benefits of renewable fuels like ethanol and believes the federal government has a role to play in developing a robust renewable fuels industry in this country. By passing an energy bill complete with an expansion and acceleration of the Renewable Fuels Standard, Congress would mirror the desire of the American public to move away from our growing dependence on foreign — and often hostile — sources of oil.”

Additional findings include:

• Seventy-seven percent of Americans want the government to provide incentives to encourage refiners to reduce their use of oil and increase use of renewables.

• More than three-quarters (78 percent) maintain that increasing domestic ethanol production will help create new jobs and improve the economy in rural America.

• Fifty-eight percent believe more use of domestically produced ethanol will help reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Focusing on one of the more popular myths about ethanol production, the poll found that 84 percent of Americans believe something other than ethanol is at the root cause of rising food prices. Specifically, higher oil prices (46 percent), increased global demand (15 percent), and adverse weather conditions like drought (14 percent) were deemed to have a greater impact on food prices than ethanol production (7 percent).

The poll was conducted Oct. 23-25 by the Mellman Group and commissioned by the RFA. The poll surveyed 1,000 adults with a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

Renewable Fuels Now is a coalition representing the ethanol, biodiesel, agriculture and other industries that support increased use of domestically produced renewable fuels as part of a balanced energy policy for America.